


a fear of heights

by Beckingham



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, if left unchecked I will write bird puns, making it up as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-16
Updated: 2013-03-20
Packaged: 2017-12-05 11:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/722715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beckingham/pseuds/Beckingham
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumpelstiltskin, unlike Snow White, has no gift for conversing with birds. He's starting to suspect he might have underestimated the usefulness of that skill.</p><p>Unrepentant AU pre-Storybrooke, another altered Belle and Rumpelstiltskin love story. In fragments.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one

The cages, he notes, are _exquisite_. There are weaving patterns and asymmetrical flairs, crafted with beauty in mind; for such beautiful little captives. His upper lip curls as he spies a lock disguised as a rose bloom. Rumpelstiltskin observes the glorious captivity, sees snatches of what may be, and hears hundreds of wings flutter like his heart in the brief anticipation.  
  
(The visions are becoming increasingly erratic as his carefully tended plans fall into place. He feels the rasp of bars, the slip of his mind, but not one drop of ink on his fingertips. Sometimes, Regina’s pulse is there instead. Other than that, his foresight has quieted.  
  
It’s made deals a matter of price over pawns. He wants, so dearly, to make everyone _pay_.)  
  
The bird in the thorned cage and rose lock is watching him haggle with her witch warden, he idly notices, taking in the grandness of her cage compared to the others. Prized (and devoutly _kept_ ). He has no need of an animal in his rooms or halls, really, but spite for the sake of spite has its own worth and reward. He names the cost, the witch bargains and stalls and pleas, swallows and tells him he doesn’t know what he asks for.  
  
“Oh, but I do, dearie,” he smirks. “If you want your darling _companion_ to live, rapunzel you must have, and _I_ must have my due.” Rumpelstiltskin runs a finger down one delicate bar, the bird cocks her head and waits (odd, that) as he does. The woman before him is reluctant and near defiance, but in a room over them there is another frail and fading. A love for love, guised as greenery for a creature, and he departs with another trophy held in the confines of his gold. Soft, breakable bars.  
  
In her new prison, as in the old, Belle’s spirit soars beyond it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This series will be very much For The Fun Of It, i) because the premise is based on something that caught my fancy more than fleshed out any sort of plot; the inspiration coming from Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, possibly just the movie version in which a woman is held captive in bird form and I watched this film once and years ago but dammit if that didn't stick with me, ii) I’m horrid at updating, and it seems like saying I’ll write something means I most certainly won’t and if I make no promises than all the more chance I might actually Do Something With This, iii) I don’t want to spend tons of time invested in research about birds. The fifteen minutes I already did gave me just enough of a grip to bullshit my way through if I want to get in depth on what sort of bird I have Belle as, iv) I probably could have just said I’m fucking lazy oh well.
> 
> May or may not expand on my twist of Rapunzel fairy tale which I for some reason threw lesbians into. At the very least I’ll tell you what kind of bird form Belle is in. Being Chaffinch, based solely on Wikipedia telling me that only the females migrate (and that apparently while these guys are popular pets they have a reputation of escaping but who knows if that’s accurate or the internet messing with me).
> 
> Yup.


	2. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When he presses a thumb to her chest, the heart within doesn't quicken, her wings don't flutter, and he knows keenly that it's not just the love invested in this creature that sets her apart. He knows that spark.
> 
> "Enchanted, are you?" he murmurs, sliding the thumb under a wing, gently, coaxingly.

He doesn't stand on much ceremony after returning to The Dark Castle with his newest prize. No rulers to mock, deals to spin, no risk to his reputation if he wants to take his tea with honey or lose himself in straw turned gold for days. No one to see him vanish a portable little cage and cup a oddly calm little feather duster in his hands (he's not a fan of cages, even less of pretty ones), suddenly bewildered as to what to _do_ with the thing. She regards him, quiet (pensive?) and still after settling in his palms. She's no ordinary bird, if only out of the extraordinary love he'd taken her from. When he presses a thumb to her chest, the heart within doesn't quicken, her wings don't flutter, and he knows keenly that it's not just the love invested in this creature that sets her apart. He knows that spark.

"Enchanted, are you?" he murmurs, sliding the thumb under a wing, gently, coaxingly. She chirps, it sounds scolding. Rumpelstiltskin doesn't bother to contain his replying chuckle. Delightful! The thing would likely take him to task for bad manners had her previous master granted her speech along with an actual _mind_ to go with those curious eyes. No wonder the witch had been so reluctant to part with what was clearly a life's work of honing her magic to produce such a masterpiece. To make an animal _think_ as a human would, not just obey; that was not something one did everyday.

(It was not without it's own cruelty, either, to grasp a creature's essence and rip it open to take in _all_ the world and not just it's own.)

It's with that knowledge that Rumpelstiltskin decides to spare her further torment, to allow her what freedom an altered being like her can have. (Because no bird that is slightly _more_ can ever have a truly free bird's life. It's crueler to let her go where she could never quite be less enough.)

He sets her down on his table, tuts and waggles a finger in mock warning. "Stay away from the windows, mind, they're remiss to let my things go. Otherwise flit about as you'd please, when you thirst and hunger the castle shall provide and I trust you'll try not to squeeze your way through any keyholes." He hesitates, "you might join me when I take tea. The witch did you no favors when she gave you thoughts, I'll not have you run mad leaving you alone with them." He knows well the danger of that.

She flutters her wings. Shrugging? Maybe a curtsey in gratitude? Rumpelstiltskin almost smirks at this bit of whimsey.

Maybe she'll make her nests from his gold and finally put that to use.

"But if I'm to have you as a partner for tea, then you simply must have a name. Mustn't confuse you with all the dears out there without two thoughts to rub together, yes?"

Names matter. He twines his fingers together to keep from fidgeting (well aware that he's never bestowed a name before). Names matter, from thumbs to feathers, there is a power in all creatures' names.

He'd taught Cora that well enough, Milah had known before he had it seems. (A strong name had grown such a strong boy despite his parentage.) The lady with lifted beak and almost comical dignity before him is no pet, and so he doesn't chose hers lightly, regrets not asking for it before leaving the witch and her ill lover.

She's a stately thing, holding herself proudly and without fear, even before he'd revealed he would do her no harm. There is a brightness in her that neither this nor her previous cage dims. That deserves a good name.

"Well," he muses, "why not give that it's due? Lucia it is then."

It can be their secret, that the Dark One has light in his life, no matter how little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucia means "light". I spent too long coming up with this name, and have deluded myself into thinking I'm clever. 
> 
> It occurs to me that I should give some background to how Belle ended up all feathered, or at least a ficlet from her point of view. Someday.
> 
> Rumpelstiltskin observes a lot of things in a very short time except the fact that she's actually human. At least he got the "enchanted" part right on that. If you're confused about why his guard is down, it's pretty specifically because he missed the actually human thing.


End file.
